Florida Gators Volleyball Hosts Gators Invitational

The No. 11 Florida Gators volleyball team hosts Liberty, Northern Arizona and Louisiana in the Gator Invitational this weekend.

Florida looks to carry the momentum from their sweep over the No. 23 Florida State Seminoles. Additionally, this will be the Gators’ final weekend of non-conference play.

The Gators will open up tournament play at noon on Friday against the Liberty Flames.

Liberty Flames

Liberty (5-4) looks to bounce back from their three-set loss to Washington State this past Saturday.

The Flames’ offense is led by outside hitter Amelia Johnson. The red-shirt junior leads the team with 119 kills on the season.

Currently, Liberty leads the ASUN in team hitting percentage (.248).

Defensively, Liberty is led by libero Macy Phillips. Phillips, a transfer junior from Florida, tallies 137 digs on the season.

Friday’s match will be the first time the Gators have faced the Flames since 1999.

This week, we head to Florida, the home state of 3⃣ current players: Jenna Culhan, @RajiniFitz and Macy Phillips! We'll take on @GatorsVB at noon on Friday to start the weekend.#WalkthroughtheDoor pic.twitter.com/pdT8Ubeknl

— Liberty Volleyball (@LibertyWVB) September 16, 2019

Northern Arizona

Florida will face their second opponent of the tournament, Northern Arizona, on Friday night at 7 p.m.

Northern Arizona (6-3) is fresh off of a dominant performance in the Lumberjack Classic this past weekend. The Lumberjacks completed three straight sweeps over opponents LSU, Fresno State and South Dakota.

https://twitter.com/NAUVolleyball/status/1172985704319610880

Junior right-side hitter Heaven Harris was named to the Lumberjack Classic All-Tournament Team. Furthermore, Harris leads Northern Arizona with 102 kills on the season.

The Lumberjack defense is led by middle blocker Abby Akin. Additionally, Akins leads the Big Sky Conference with 50 blocks on the season.

Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns

The Gators will face the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in their final match of the Gator Invitational.

The Ragin’ Cajuns (4-6) look to shake off a three-loss streak. In the Oklahoma Invitational, Louisiana fell to Arizona State, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma.

Libero Hannah Ramirez, a transfer from Panola College, leads the Ragin’ Cajuns with 156 digs on the season. Additionally, Ramirez earned tournament honors in each of Louisiana’s last three tournaments.

https://twitter.com/RaginCajunsVB/status/1174012640412282880

Offensively, freshman right-side hitter Celeste Darling leads Louisiana with an average of 2.59 kills per set.

Tournament Schedule

 Friday

• Northern Arizona vs. Louisiana 10 a.m.
• Florida vs. Liberty 12 p.m.
• Louisiana vs. Liberty 5 p.m.
• Florida vs. Northern Arizona 7 p.m.

Saturday

• Northern Arizona vs. Liberty 10:30 a.m.
• Florida vs. Louisiana 3:30 p.m.

You can listen live to Florida’s Friday matchups against Liberty and Northern Arizona on ESPN 98.1 FM/850 AM WRUF. Additionally, you catch live coverage of Saturday’s match against Louisiana, you can listen live to GatorVision.